I. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to an apparatus for orientating a large group of magnetic articles, which are randomly distributed on a conveyor belt, into groups of magnetic articles which are linearly aligned to form rows on the conveyor.
II. Description of the Prior Art
Various types of devices are known in the art for directing flow, diverting, or reorientating conveyed articles on conveyor systems. For example, see U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,738,475; 3,731,782; 3,666,080; 3,433,346; 3,285,386; and 3,214,003. Conveying magnetic articles, such as cans, find numerous applications in industry, such as the can making industry and the handling of canned foods. Can dividers are employed, for example, where cans are received from a machine having a high output and are fed to a plurality of machines operating at a lower speed. Also, can dividers are used to divide cans prior to packing into boxes or cases. In the past, it has been necessary to convey cans between various work stations on single row conveyors, since previous devices and methods for laning cans randomly distributed on conveyor systems have been plagued by jamming problems or have been incapable of operating at the conveyor speed desired.
The present invention addresses these problems by providing an apparatus which is simple in construction and operation. It is a desirable characteristic of the present invention to provide a device which will reorientate magnetic articles randomly distributed across the transverse width of a conveyor system to form predetermined rows of articles at selected transverse positions at a downstream portion of the conveyor system. It is also desirable to provide an apparatus which can operate at relatively high conveyor speeds without jamming the apparatus do to hesitation of the magnetic articles as they pass through the laning apparatus. It is further desirable to provide an apparatus which can be used in conjunction with conventional conveyor systems.